Annual tradition ‘Liquid Latex’ sure to delight

Back again for its 17th annual show, Liquid Latex club has put together eight original performances for this year’s show. “Liquid Latex,” named Best College-Supported Art Project on the Playboy website in 2010, is an entirely student-run spectacle in which performers wear nothing but underwear and cover their bodies with latex paint, premiering Tuesday, March 28.

Some of the performances are dance pieces, commemorating rock and pop idols such as Lady Gaga. These pieces tend to be more narrative. For example, this year’s show will feature a reproduction of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” “These pieces have a stronger emphasis on performance than the paint design,” said Morgan Winters ’17, the president of Liquid Latex.

Other pieces in the show emphasize the design of the painted costumes and will aim to make a statement, Winters said. For example, the theme in one of the pieces this year will center around the criticisms of social media. Also, there will be a runway piece with a horoscope theme in which the paint costumes are influenced by a zodiac sign, Winters said. These types of pieces call attention to the shapes, colors and images painted on the models’ bodies.

“Liquid Latex” brings together painters, designers, choreographers, models, dancers and actors who are all students. Preparation for the show started in the middle of the first semester. Designers create the “costume” designs to paint on the models’ bodies. Choreographers and directors create pieces to perform in the show. Sometimes one student will manage the entire creative process for a performance piece. Sydney Westervelt ’17 is choreographing, directing and painting designs for her own piece, titled “Evolutions of Gaga.” Each of her designs is influenced by Lady Gaga’s albums, she said.

Applications to be selected as a piece creator open in the beginning of the first semester. Typically “Liquid Latex” board members try to come up with an overarching theme for the show. This year, however, the themes are diverse due to a delay in the preparation for the show, according to Winters.

Applications also include positions for modeling which are filled on a first-come-first-serve basis. There is no particular look choreographers and designers strive for when choosing a model. “An interesting thing about the show is that you can see all the different shapes that can form a body. Everyone holds a unique form,” said Emma Jannsen ’17, assistant coordinator of “Liquid Latex.”

E-board members of Liquid Latex encourage Brandeis students to participate in at least one of the annual shows during their years at Brandeis. “A lot of people connect with one another and the experience is not sexual nor is it intended to be,” said Jannsen. “From the perspective of a viewer I never focused on the fact that the performers are naked.”

“This show is about celebrating the human spirit and body. It’s full of love and support, which is good especially in this day and age in which everyone judges you based off your dating profile,” Westervelt said.

“Liquid Latex’s” doors open at 7:45 p.m. on March 28, and the show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are free with student IDs and are available at the Shapiro Campus Center ticket booth.

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